Language Research

SCHOOLS

According to the law, kindergartens, primary and secondary school classes in the minority languages will be conducted if so requested by the parents of eight or more children belonging to the respective minority. Teacher training exists in Croatian, German, Slovak and Slovenian.

Currently there are three types of minority education programs:

• Schools where all subjects but the minority language are taught in Hungarian
• Bilingual schools where at least 50% of the subjects are taught in the minority language
• Monolingual schools where all subjects but the Hungarian language and literature are taught in the minority language

Although private minority schools do not exist on the territory of the country, the establishment of such institutions would be entirely legal and they would also be entitled to receive public funding.

MEDIA

Hungarian Television produces 638 minutes of minority programs per month. As for the print media for national and ethnic minorities, its funding is provided by the Government-established Public Foundation for National and Ethnic Minorities in Hungary. This foundation allocates state budget sources to the nation-wide distribution of at least one newspaper respectively for each national minority.

ROMA

Roma-children in public schools are often segregated from Hungarian children and receive poor education. Many Roma children (in northeastern regions of Hungary 90%) are sent to special schools for mentally handicapped. This method is described as an effort to exclude socially weak Roma children from mainstream education.

The Gandhi high school in Pecs in southern Hungary is the country's only secondary school for Roma.

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Updated (June 2002)

The Romanian state secretary of the Ministry of Public Information after his recent visit to Hungary declared that pupils belonging to the Romanian minority can study only two hours per week in their mother tongue. According to the state secretary, it is unfair in comparison with the situation of the Hungarian minority in Romania.

In the same declarations he stated that the Romanian government intended to give further financial support and sent Romanian teachers to Hungary in order to revive the teaching of the Romanian language.

Source: Mercator, http://www.troc.es/ciemen/mercator/index-gb.htm, June 2002

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Updated (October 2004)

A HUNGARIAN-CHINESE BILINGUAL PRIMARY SCHOOL IN BUDAPEST

In academic year 2004/2005, ninety-six schoolchildren are educated in the first Hungarian-Chinese bilingual primary school operating in Ujpalota (15th district of Budapest). This district is known for its high concentration of Chinese businesses and other Chinese institutions (the Asia Center, China Market, restaurants and shops, the headquarters of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and a Buddhist temple).

So far children could learn Chinese only at home; however, to meet the growing demand, the municipality provided for this purpose a state-owned school building free of charge for 50 years (maintenance costs will be covered jointly by the Chinese and Hungarian governments.)

The school is not intended solely for Chinese children. The Hungarian children, whose parents are employed by the People's Republic of China, (by the Embassy, etc.) have also been admitted and they constitute about one sixth of the pupils. The staff comprises eleven teachers, who will use in their work schoolbooks coming from China.

According to statistics, the majority of a twenty thousand-member Chinese community lives in Budapest. They demonstrate a strong sense of belonging together, which is aimed at the preservation of their identity, language and culture. They publish their own newspaper and lead an active community life.

THE REGISTER OF FORENAMES HAS BEEN COMPLETED

By January 2004, twelve out of the thirteen minority self-governments compiled the lists of forenames based on their traditions¹. As a consequence, in August a book containing all eligible minority forenames was published. A person declaring minority affiliation may choose a forename for his or her child from this list.

Source: Office for National and Ethnic Minorities, Budapest, Selection of news on national and ethnic minorities in Hungary, July – September 2004, Minelres Archive, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2004-October/003608.html

¹ Only the Armenians failed to reach a consensus on this matter.

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Updated (March 2006)

MINORITY EDUCATION IN HUNGARY

The present system of education in Hungary is a traditional one that has been in use for decades. New, significant education reforms have not changed the structure, which consists of five levels in both public and private schools. Institutions of public education may be established and maintained by the state, the municipality, the local minority self-government, the national minority self-government, churches registered in Hungary or other organizations that are seated in the territory of the country. Education is compulsory by law for all children aged six to sixteen.

The education of national and ethnic minorities functions as an integral part of the Hungarian educational system. Both the 1993 Act LXXIX on Public Education and the Decree No 32/1997 (Xl.5) of the Ministry of Culture and Education (on the Issuance of Guidelines on the Pre-School Instruction of National and Ethnic Minorities and the School Education of National and Ethnic Minorities) are crucial to the status of education of, and in, minority languages in Hungary.

Article 5 of the Act on Public Education stipulates, "The languages to be used in education in kindergartens, schools and student hostels are the Hungarian language as well as the languages of the national and ethnic minorities. Children belonging to national or ethnic minorities may receive education in kindergartens, schools and student hostels in their respective native languages or in their native languages and in Hungarian or solely in Hungarian - on the basis of the choice specified in the Act on the rights of national and ethnic minorities."

As it was mentioned above, the main responsibility for education rests with the state, represented by the Ministry of Education that elaborates the legal provisions regulating the entire range of the system. With the aim of facilitating the implementation of minority-related professional tasks, the ministry has set up the National Committee of Minorities. Each of the thirteen national minority self-governments appoints one member for this committee. The committee gives its opinion on all draft regulations and documents that affect the issue of minority education as well as it approves the publication of textbooks in minority languages to be used in schools.

The Ministry of Education has also established a special organization, the National Public Education Evaluation and Examination Center, which, among other measures, shall cooperate with the National Committee to perform its tasks concerning pre-school care, school and dormitory education for minorities.

SLOVAK

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION

Kindergartens in Hungary are institutions educating children from the age of three until the child reaches the level of development necessary for school attendance. In the year a child turns five, he or she is obliged to participate in preparatory programmes organized within the framework of kindergarten education.

In pre-school education, the Slovak language is used in two forms while the bilingual is more prevalent. The use of Slovak or Hungarian usually depends on the language skills of the children but the emphasis should be given on the development of the minority language.

There are sixty-six kindergartens providing pre-school education in Slovak and only four of them exclusively conduct all their activities in this language.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

In the Hungarian educational system, primary education is compulsory, and it usually begins at the age of six.

Taking into account the linguistic and cultural situation of the Slovaks in Hungary, three forms of education can be defined. At first, there are schools providing the teaching of a minority language. In this case, the Slovak language is taught as a foreign language in four lessons a week. Besides literature and language, one lesson per week is dedicated to Slovak studies and civilization. However, Hungarian is the language of instruction of other subjects due to demographic reasons and to the advanced stage of assimilation of the Slovak minority. Children entering school hardly speak Slovak or they do not speak the language at all.

Then, there are bilingual schools, in which fifty percent of the weekly obligatory classes should be taught in the minority language. For example, History, Geography and the so-called "skill-developing subjects" usually use the Slovak language as a language of instruction. Moreover, the Slovak School of Budapest offers also other subjects such as Physics, Mathematics and Biology in Slovak. In Hungary, only five schools offer bilingual education for Slovak minority, four of which cover an entire region and not just one settlement.

In the native-language schools, a medium of instruction is the minority language. All subjects apart from the Hungarian language and literature are taught in Slovak. Unfortunately, there is only one institution organized in this way for Slovaks.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Secondary education as such has three forms and can be offered in classic secondary grammar schools, in specialized vocational secondary schools providing not only vocational training but also a general certificate of secondary education at the end of the studies. Finally, there are industrial and trade schools providing only vocational training.

Grammar schools

The education offered in these schools provides general knowledge and prepares students for the general school-leaving examination and for tertiary level of education. Similar to primary schools, Slovak-medium instruction, bilingual and teaching Slovak as a foreign language constitute the three possible forms of instruction for these grammar schools. Slovak grammar schools follow the bilingual model in which at least fifty percent of the subjects are taught in Slovak. This means that Slovak is in general the language of instruction for the humanities and the compulsory skill-development subjects.

Having participated in Slovak-Hungarian bilingual education, students have to sit for their school-leaving examination in Slovak. Except taking the Slovak language and literature, they have to sit for two other subjects in the minority language.

There are only two secondary grammar schools with Slovak as a language of instruction; one is in Hungaryis in Budapest, and the second in Békéscsaba, which is considered the spiritual center of the Slovak community living in Hungary.

Specialized vocational secondary schools

n vocational training, the teaching of the Slovak language serves primarily as a basis for the ulterior teaching of some special subjects (such as commerce and marketing, management, business geography) conducted in Slovak or bilingually. Most examples of the Slovak-medium instruction of special subjects in the field of training for commerce and catering trade can be seen in the Slovak-Hungarian border region. Countrywide, there are five institutions of vocational training (industrial and trade schools as well as specialized vocational secondary schools) also teaching in the Slovak language. One of them is located in Budapest; the others work in the border region (Komárom, Balassagyarmat, Sátoraljaújhely).

Industrial and trade schools

After primary school, this segment of education is compulsory only the first two years, i.e. for children aged fifteen and sixteen. During this period only general education and preparation for vocational training is provided. Afterwards, the vocational training lasts at least another two years.

Similar to the system of primary education, in the first phase of the studies, students learn the Slovak language, literature and Slovak civilization or they take Slovak as a foreign language in four lessons a week. Later, in the grades of vocational training, they study Slovak vocational terminology and the technical language, also in four lessons a week.

HIGHER EDUCATION

There are four educational levels in the Hungarian higher educational system. These levels are: higher vocational training (2 years), college (3-4 years), university (4-6 years) and doctoral programmes (3 years) or other specialized postgraduate programmes (2 years).

The Slovak language is used in higher education at two universities and three colleges. The departments concerned primarily offer teacher training for Slovak-language public education. Besides, the specialization of Slovak studies (Slovakistics) is also offered at university level. The geographical distribution of institutions with a Slovak department corresponds to the distribution of the Slovak population.

Hungarian higher education for Slovak minority is in a position to offer teacher training only in the field of the Slovak language and literature, primary school and kindergarten education owing to a limited professional background and a small number of students. The courses provided by the autonomous Slovak minority departments or sub-departments at different institutions have been recently accredited. Moreover, according to bilateral agreements between the two states, language experts from Slovakia can be employed in these minority departments.

Furthermore, students can receive grants that allow participation in full-time or part-time tertiary education in the kin country. These scholarships enable those interested to become trained not only as teachers but also to receive training in any other specialized area. However, most applicants graduate in teacher training institutions or at faculties of humanities in the Slovak Republic.

The training of Slovak kindergarten and primary school teachers is organized at the Department of Minorities and Foreign Languages of the Tessedik Sámuel College in Szarvas as well as at the Slovak Minority Department of the Esztergom-based Vitéz János Roman-Catholic Teacher Training College. Both colleges offer students a one-semester part-time training course in Slovakia.

Teacher training for the upper grades of the primary school takes place at the Department of Slovak Language and Literature of the Juhász Gyula Teacher Training College of the University of Szeged. The College statutes stipulate that the specialization course for the Slovak language and literature can be taken together with any other specialization. Students are also obliged to take part in part-time training in Slovakia.

In addition to training possibilities through scholarships in the kin state, teachers for secondary education are trained in the Institute of Slavonic and Baltic Philology of the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Besides being offered specific pedagogical training, students can also choose a specialization in general Slovakistics, which ensures the education of Slovak intelligentsia. This university is run by the state.

The other center for the training of specialists in humanities (Slovak studies, Slovakistics) is the Slovak Department of the Faculty of Humanities of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, run by the Catholic Church. Although this Department has not been specifically designed to train teachers, students also have the possibility to take up pedagogical studies in order to graduate as secondary school teachers.

Source: Source: Mercator Education, Regional Dossiers, The Slovak Language in Education in Hungary, http://www1.fa.knaw.nl/mercator/regionale_dossiers/regional_dossier_slovak_in_hungary.htm

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Updated (February 2007)

A NEW RADIO CHANNEL FOR NATIONAL AND ETHNIC MINORITIES

The Hungarian public service station, Magyar Rádió, has launched a new channel - MR4, which is to broadcast programs exclusively for national and ethnic minorities.

The channel broadcast at 1188 kHz and 874 kHz covering the whole territory of the country. Programmes are also broadcast through satellite and are accessible on the Internet at the website www.radio.hu.

Programmes will be run in 11 minority languages every day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The two-hour programmes will be broadcast at the same times daily for the following minorities: Croatian (8-10 a.m.), German (10-12 a.m.), Serbian (2-4 p.m.), Romanian (4-6 p.m.), and Slovak (6-8p.m.). Other, smaller minorities, including Slovenes, will get less coverage - 30 minutes weekly.

Launching of this channel puts an end to the long and much criticized period during which minority language programmes were broadcast on an old East European FM frequency, which modern radios could not receive. This problem was highlighted in the second report (2003) of the Committee of Experts on the implementation of the Language Charter and also included in the Recommendation addressed to Hungary by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, according to which Hungary should "strengthen the presence of minority languages in the media and, in particular, ensure that programmes in minority languages can be received on ordinary radios".

Source: Eurolang News, February 26, 2007 by Judit Solymosi http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2831&Itemid=1&lang=en

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